


I've Done the Best I Can

by winnerstick



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-03
Updated: 2012-10-03
Packaged: 2017-11-15 13:35:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/527868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winnerstick/pseuds/winnerstick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Stiles, you're-you're going to die. Please. Take the bite. Then you'll heal."</p>
            </blockquote>





	I've Done the Best I Can

**Author's Note:**

> Written for my lovely Andi, dylanofuckme on tumblr. It's her fault! She requested this!

"You are so stupid."

It's the first time Stiles looks truly fragile, like one wrong move would shatter him. Derek is all light touches and a gentle voice, completely contradicting his entire being. There is nothing soft about Derek not even when he's with Stiles. He is rough around the edges and far too physical for anyone's good, but he's always been that way. His power was never in linguistics; he had always been a tactile learner. Much more hands-on.

Stiles could never stop talking. He balanced them out. Stiles never shut up and getting Derek to have a full conversation was like pulling teeth. Derek took his time with his words and thought things through; Stiles was impulsive with his words and had no filter. Derek had never felt so whole in his life.

But right now, he didn't feel whole. He had been ripped in half and he was trying desperately to keep the pieces together. Maybe if he held Stiles a lighter tighter, kept him a little warmer, everything would be alright. But the blood was seeping out, staining Stiles's shirt crimson. His breathing was growing ragged and he had become a ghostly white.

How could he do this? How could he think that Derek would be able to pick up the pieces after this? He couldn't. The image of Stiles, his stiles, his mate, bleeding and shaking and sweating and looking so fragile would never leave his mind. Derek had never felt so powerless in his life. His entire world was fading away in his arms.

He had warned him. He told Stiles to stay away, to stay somewhere safe, but Stiles never listened. He didn't seem to grasp how utterly, impossibly, painfully human he was. Derek told him it wasn't safe, that Stiles could get hurt, but he came anyway.

He had been trying to save him. He saw that gun being aimed at Derek and was convinced that it would be the one ot kill him. He had just been trying to protect Derek from the bullet he was convinced was infused with wolfsbane. He hadn't heard Derek yell for him to stop, to run away. Or maybe he had just ignored him. Stiles never listened to those orders, anyway.

Stiles was so painfully human. He was weak and fragile and couldn't heal like the rest of them could. All those hours of Stiles insisting he was just as capable, just as strong, just as safe as the others seemed pointless now that he was hurt and dying and oh-so-human.

"Stiles," Derek sounded, his voice gruff with the sadness he was trying to keep pent up. "Take the bite."

Stiles shook his head.

"Stiles, you're-you're going to die. Please. Take the bite. Then you'll heal."

"I can't, Derek. I don't want to be a werewolf. When I die, I want to die as Stiles. Just Stiles. I'm still just Stiles."

He was so stupid. His heart didn't even stutter. Stiles really was prepared to die, and Derek was helpless. He couldn't force it on the boy, even though every instinct inside of him was telling him to do it anyway. He knew that his eyes were glowing red and his teeth and nails were elongating. He tried to fight it, but he was losing the battle, along with the battle to keep the tears from falling.

Right now, he didn't care if he looked weak. The others had chased off Stiles's assailant and they were alone. It seemed as if even the animals had extended them privacy; either that or Derek was just too focused on the slowing beat of Stiles's heart, the stuttering intakes of breath as he tried to work through the pain, the sounds of life being drawn away from Derek's arms.

"I'm sorry, Stiles, I'm so sorry. I should have protected you better. I should have-"

He was silenced by a soft laugh. "I love you, too, Derek. Tell my dad I'm sorry, and that I love him. Scott, too. Watch out for all of them for me."

"Tell them yourself," Derek responded, his voice just as tight and tense as the rest of his body.

"I can't. I'm going to see my mom."

There was the anticlimax. The sudden drop. His heart stopped pumping and his stuttering breaths ceased. Derek froze in shock and he wrapped his arms tighter around the body in a helpless attempt to bring him back. He felt empty, completely hollow as the wolf in him took over for a sorrowful howl. Just like that, it was over. Just like that, everything was gone.

He pressed a kiss into Stiles's short hair and clsoed his eyes as their heads rested together.

"I love you."


End file.
